My big break in the events industry

Mar 24, 2016

My gracious fall into the wonderful world of events happened about 8 years ago when I was almost at the end of a Communication degree. A prerequisite of the course was a two week internship which I was struggling to secure so I ended up begging a friend of a friend who owned a Creative Agency. To be honest my focus was to smash out the internship and just get it done. Needless to say after two weeks at the agency I fell in love with this newly discovered creative world and just like that, the architecture of my whole life was re-arranged.

I spent the next four years working my ass off! I was seriously overworked, grossly underpaid, and had built up a mighty fine collection of parking fines, BUT - and yes there's a but, for every moment each new working day brought I was gaining experience that previous years of tertiary education had failed to give me (please don't share this with my parents, they're still dirty with me for not finishing my degree). This experience allowed a particular type of fervour to set in. A fervour that I quickly realised was an undeniably passion for shaping the experiences of others through event styling. After being in the event industry for four years I knew it was time to move on from corporate events and festivals, so I made the decision to work in events with much more heart...Weddings!

The journey that I've been on since making this decision has been an explosion of awesomeness and a celebration of large triumphs and small defeats. For those of you wanting to get into the event industry and specifically the wedding industry I have a few pointers to share:

Be prepared to hustle 24/7 - I did internships, work experience and a tonne of other unpaid work to build my folio and gain the skills I needed to make myself employable.

Have a goal and don't lose focus - No matter what your goal is keep it clear in your mind and stay motivated.

Be your biggest fan - Never doubt your capacity, work hard and be kind to yourself especially if you get things wrong. Pick yourself up and nail it the next time or the time after or the time after that.

Add to the love in the world, don't subtract - The industry is fast paced so always respect your time and the time of others. Everyone who works with you will remember you for your smile and for being genuine.